1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device for affixing a drive element to a loom warp beam shaft.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to affix a drive element in the form of a gear to the warp beam shaft, the gear cooperating with another gear of a drive unit. It is also known to affix, by screws, the gear to the side of the warp beam. Such a warp beam drive gear arrangement can only, however, be used for a loom in which the drive-unit gear also is located to the side of the warp beam.
In another known warp beam drive gear arrangement, the warp beam shaft has an external thread and the gear is provided with an internal thread so that the gear can be attached to the shaft by threading. In this arrangement, part of the gear's internal thread may belong to an attachment which by means of screws can be clamped against the external thread of the warp beam, and which thereby defines a specific axial position at which the gear can be clamped. Such an affixing arrangement has the drawback that, for beams of large diameters and/or when weaving at high warp tensions, the gear may rotate relative to the beam. Moreover, this type of clamping device has the drawback that a relatively large amount of time is required to thread the gear to the desired position on the warp beam shaft.
Furthermore, a device for affixing a drive element to a loom warp beam is known from European patent document 451,895 A1, the drive element being affixed to a loom drive shaft driven by a drive motor through the intermediary of gears. The warp beam shaft is fitted with a thread that can mesh with a thread of the drive element to link the drive element to the warp beam shaft. Such a device also has a number of drawbacks, including on one hand the complexity of the device and the comparatively large amount of time needed to screw the drive element to the warp beam shaft, and on the other hand that the device may be used with only a limited number of warp beams.